Book Review: How to Code in Minecraft by Jim Christian

There’s a lot of stuff on the web and in print on how to code mods in Minecraft, most of which requires a fairly hefty investment of time in learning Java. And that right at the outset eliminates a lot of beginning coders. What we need are some entry points for beginning to intermediate coders, which most people who are hooked on Minecraft are. I’ve found Minecraft appeals to all ages, but particularly to the 8-12 age group.

Enter Jim Christian’s excellent book: How to Code in Minecraft. In 146 colorful, jam-packed with coding and Minecraft goodness pages, Jim has given the beginning and intermediate coder a multitude of entry points into doing more than just playing Minecraft, but actually coding it. He lays out a steady progression of skills, starting with everyone’s favorite intro coding language, Scratch. He then moves to text-based coding with Python, which I’ve found in classes is a logical progression. From there, he introduces the popular ComputerCraft mod, which uses the Lua language. Along the way, he shows the reader how to set up a free Minecraft server, how to set up and use various development environments, and points the reader where to go after mastering the skills in this book.

Jim doesn’t leave out teaching basic programming principles, like variables, functions, loops, and events. But it’s so much fun along the way that it’s an excellent example of what I call “stealth learning”. Sure, you could give kids lessons on those topics, but they’ll be way more engaged if they’re setting traps, setting off fireworks, and creating their own in-game games! Instructions are clear with an abundance of colorful illustrations. Jim also leaves blank pages for notes at the end of each chapter, as well as suggestions for expanding the student’s knowledge with fun challenges and projects.

If you’re looking for a solid, comprehensive introduction to coding in Minecraft for your class, club, after-school program, or for that Minecraftaholic in your family, you’d be hard pressed to do better than this book. My only complaint is that it’s not yet available on Amazon in the US!